Compoundable unit air conditioning apparatus

ABSTRACT

A compoundable unit for air conditioning apparatus comprising a box-like member formed with lower and upper windows, a tubular member extending throughout the box-like member and defining therein a passage for a working fluid, and a plurality of fins mounted parallel on the said tubular member inside the said boxlike member in spaced relationship relative to one another.

United States Patent [1 1 Andreoli [111 4 3,774,680 Nov. 27, 1973 COMPOUNDABLE UNIT AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS Mario Andreoli, Via dello Sterlino l6, Bologna, Italy Filed: Oct. 28, 1971 Appl. No.: 193,357

Inventor:

Foreign Application Priority Data Dec. 18, 1970 Italy 3642 A/7O US. Cl. 165/122, 165/128 Int. Cl. F24h 3/00 Field of Search 165/48, 122, 129,

' References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS l/l94l Reynolds 165/129 3,537,512 11/1970 Romanelli 165/22 Primary ExaminerCharles Sukalo Att0meyGuido Modiano et a1.

2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEU NW2? I975 INVENTOR MARIO ANDREOLI BY Agent COMPOUNDABLE UNIT AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a compoundable unit air conditioning apparatus of the forced air circulation type particularly for heating.

One of the characteristic features of an air conditioning apparatus is the presence of means for forcedly circulating air through it and the ability to be fed with a hot or cold fluid.

Air conditioning apparatus have some important advantages over simple heaters, whether these be radiators, convectors or combined radiators and convectors, from the efiiciency point of view, but these are countered by considerable disadvantages arising from their actual structure. They are also of high cost.

A typical conditioning apparatus comprises a coil through which the hot fluid circulates and to whch a plurality of fins are fixed so as to give rise to the heat exchange surface, a single or multi-speed fan arranged in such a manner that its delivery strikes the fins, and a housing which not only has aesthetic purposes but also encloses the aforementioned assemblies and may also support them. The housing comprises openings, which may be grilled, for air inlet and outlet, rolling gates and in some cases supports for a filter.

Other types of air conditioning apparatus comprise an assembly of fin tubes instead of a finned coil unit.

Some of the main disadvantages of conventional air conditioning apparatus, are the necessity of individual construction case for case, at least with regard to the heat exchange unit and the housing, limited adaptability of the capacity of the apparatus to the requirements of the room when some of the dimensions of the apparatus are standardized and excessive noise which in many environments is intolerable.

A further disadvantage is the difficulty of installation and its bulk.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an air conditioning apparatus, particularly for heating, by which the aforementioned disadvantages of presently obtainable apparatus are substantially avoided.

This and other objects are attained by an air conditioning apparatus, according to the invention, comprising at least one metallic box-like single block member closed at the back thereof by a panel and lowerly and upperly being formed with windows which extend over the whole of its length, and comprising internally a plurality o fins parallel with the sides and of height sensibly less than that of said box-like member, said fins being rigid also with a tubular member which extends over the whole of the width of the box-like member and constitues the passage for the working fluid, and in which above said fins a space is provided in which means for forcedly circulating air are housed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Further details of the invention will be more evident from the following detailed description of one embodiment illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a section through an air conditioning apparatus on a plane parallel to .one side;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an air conditioning apparatus comprising three box-like members in which portions are cut away so as to illustrate the assembly of the means for forcedly circulating air;

FIG. 3 is a detail of the apparatus relative to the components for electrical connection between the means contained in the various box-like members for forcedly circulating the air.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Said figures in which the same component, part or detail is always indicated by the same reference number show an air conditioning apparatus 1 which comprises three basic units indicated by the reference nu merals 2, 3 and 4.

Each unit, of which particular reference is made to the unit 2, consists of a box-like member or housing which comprises sides 5 and 6, afront wall 7 and an upper wall 8.

The sides 5 and 6 are of substantially rectangular form with a slight contraction lowerly and a large bevel at their upper front end.

Fins 9 extend from the lower zone of the front wall 7 towards the interior of the box-like member and have a width slightly less than the width of the sides, whereas their height is equal to about one half the total height of the box-like body.

Said fins are connected together at the sides 5, 6 by a strip 10 which runs from one side to another at the back of the lower end.

The fins 9 are traversed by a passage 11 through which the primary fluid circulates. Said passage 11 is formed from a tubular member 12 which extends parallel to the front wall 7 and is arranged slightly above the strip 10.

The tubular member 12 has a cross-section which comprises a circular portion extending through 270 and a right-angled portion the sides 13, 14 of which are tangential to the circular portion and parallel and perpendicular respectively to the lower zone 7a of the front wall 7.

The inlet and outlet of the passage 11 have left handed and right handed threads respectively by means of which with the use of nipples a number of basic units can be combined so as to form apparatus whose capacity is a multiple of the unit capacity and so obtain apparatus which are of adequate capacity for the characteristics and requirements of the environments in which they are installed.

Of the fins 9, which form the larger part of the useful surface for heat exchange between each unit and atmospheric air, one fin in two continues upwards and forms ribs 15 which extend along the upper zone of the front wall 7 and traverse the whole of the width of the opening 16 or outlet port and the whole of the width of the upper wall 8.

Said outlet port or opening is defined in FIG. 1 by the upper edge of the front wall 7, the front edge of the upper wall 8 and laterally by the bevels of the sides 5 and 6. The outlet port 16 is consequently in the form of a grill, relatively sparse, composed of the corresponding sections of the ribs 15.

On the exposed face of the front wall 7 and on the upper wall 8 there are low ribs 17 corresponding with the ribs 15. From the aforesaid description it is seen the monolithic nature of the units the whole of their surfaces combine to an extent nearly proportional to their length in forming the heat exchange surfaces.

Heating takes place by conduction from the tubular member 12 to the remaining parts and in particular to the fins 9, with low thermal resistance due to the aforementioned monolithic nature and to the fact that each unit because of its structure may be made by diecasting aluminium alloys which are known to be good conductors of heat. The particular cross-section of the member 12 and the form of the part 7a of the wall 7 eliminates the need for undercuts when using a die with a moving plunger relative to the lower part of the unit, defined by the zone 7a of the front wall 7, the vertex between the sections 13 and 14, the horizontal diameter of the tubular member 12 and the plane passing through the back face of the strip 10.

Threaded holes, not shown in the figures, are made in enlargements in the ribs 15 and engage screws by means of which a unit 18 for forcedly circulating the air is fixed to the interior of the box-like member.

The unit 18 for forcedly circulating the air comprises an electric motor 19 with its shaft emerging from both ends of the casing. To each end is connected a fan 20 and 21 of the diametral flow type. The two impellers of said fans are indicated by the reference numerals 22 and 23, and the corresponding volutes by the reference numerals 24 and 25. The two volutes 24 and 25, as is usual for fans with diametral flow impellers, enclose the corresponding impeller through about one half of its development.

The unit 18 for forcedly circulating air is disposed above the fins 9 in a space in the box-like member so that the outlets of the two fans lie adjacent to the plane passing through the edges of the ribs 15. It is important at this point to note that because of its conformation, each unit 2 has a fairly low resistance to circulation of air and that fans with diametral flow impellers work at maximum efficiency when inserted in low resistance circuits.

Moreover because the unit for forcedly circulating air has large passages it does not block the box-like member 2, but only results in a slight increase in pressure drop.

The back edge of the fins 9 lies slightly towards the interior with respect to the back edges of the sides 5 and 6 so as to form a seat into which a sheet metal panel 26 is inserted so as to close the back of the boxlike member 2, and is fixed by screws which are indicated by the reference numeral 27.

On the back closing panels 26 of the single units which form the apparatus 1 there are openings'formed close to the sides in which sockets 28 are inserted for electrically connecting together each unit forming the apparatus and for connecting the apparatus to the mains supply.

Said sockets 28 are shown in detail in FIG. 3 which illustrates two sockets relative to panels 26 of two adjacent units, and which comprise a block of insulating material into which two metallic bushes 29 are sunk, terminating at their back end with screw terminals.

Said block has a flange at the front and a thin slot 30 at the back which traverses the block and passes between the bushes 29. A U bolt of resilient material, and

with its lateral portions spread out, is inserted in the adjacent faces of the block, and when the flange of the block reaches the surface of the panel said lateral portions open behind the panel so preventing the block from escaping. Thus the said contact carrying blocks are fixed into the panels which close the backs of the units by simply pushing them in.

Said blocks 28 comprise, as stated, screw terminals at the back end of the front opening bushes and to these are connected wires 32 and 33 (see FIG. 2) for connecting together the corresponding terminals of blocks fixed on any one panel. From the terminals of any one of said blocks on a panel wires 34 and 35 lead to the motor of the unit for forcedly circulating air, housed in the box-like member 2. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 the blocks of the various units located adjacently in one apparatus are connected together by pairs of plugs 36 and 37, respectively, except for that which is to receive the cable from the mains supply.

Operation of the air conditioning apparatus heretofore described in detail is very simple. Operation of the fan assemblies gives consistent circulation of air in each unit, and because of the considerable free crosssections the air cannot assume very high speeds. As the air remains for an appreciable time between the heating surfaces it undergoes a consistent rise in temperature and because of its low speed and the structural characteristics of the apparatus it cannot create hissing or noises which are always very annoying. It is noteworthy that as the box-like elements are compoundable one with another they create apparatus which does not require casings or the like, because of which the aforementioned disadvantages are eliminated.

It is also noteworthy that apparatus of the most widely varying capacities can be built up. Because. of the experimentally proved high efiiciency of the basic units without their assembly for forcedly circulating air, apparatus can be built up in which some of the basic units may comprise the assembly for forcedly circulating air whereas others are without it.

As in the case of air conditioning apparatus presently available, the air conditioning apparatus according to the invention may be easily adjusted by means of a thermostat which controls the assembly or assemblies which forcedly circulate air.

I claim:

1. An air conditioning apparatus comprising at least one metallic boxlike monoblocks housing including a horizontal tubular member extending through the length of said housing, a plurality of mutually spaced parallel fins cast-integral with and arranged at regular distances over the entire length of the tubular member and extending perpendicular thereto, said fins having stop edges lying in a horizontal plane and vertical front edges which are cast-integral with a vertical front wall, the first and the last of said fins forming the sides of the housing having a height greater than the height of the other fins characterized in that the upper ends of said sides are cast-integral with a horizontal upper wall, the front wall extends upwardly beyond the top edges of the fins, for a length smaller than that of the length of the sides so as to define a front outlet part for the air and that vertical ribs are provided continuously extending on the inner faces of said front wall and of the horizontal upper wall and cast-integral therewith, said ribs lying in the same plane of said fins and having a height smaller than height of said fins so as to define a space surface facing towards the front side of the housing and a straight horizontal surface facing towards the top of the housing and remaining sector of the cross-section of the tubular member being defined by a circular arc to which said straight surfaces are tangential respectively. 

1. An air conditioning apparatus comprising at least one metallic box-like monoblocks housing including a horizontal tubular member extending through the length of said housing, a plurality of mutually spaced parallel fins cast-integral with and arranged at regular distances over the entire length of the tubular member and extending perpendicular thereto, said fins having stop edges lying in a horizontal plane and vertical front edges which are cast-integral with a vertical front wall, the first and the last of said fins forming the sides of the housing having a height greater than the height of the other fins characterized in that the upper ends of said sides are castintegral with a horizontal upper wall, the front wall extends upwardly beyond the top edges of the fins, for a length smaller than that of the length of the sides so as to define a front outlet part for the air and that vertical ribs are provided continuously extending on the inner faces of said front wall and of the horizontal upper wall and cast-integral therewith, said ribs lying in the same plane of said fins and having a height smaller than height of said fins so as to define a space for the arrangement of means for forcibly circulating air.
 2. An air conditioning apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the external periphery of the cross-section of said tubular member has a quadrangular sector between the horizontal and vertical cross sectional centerlines thereof defined by a straight vertical surface facing towards the front side of the housing and a straight horizontal surface facing towards the top of the housing and remaining sector of the cross-section of the tubular member being defined by a circular arc to which said straight surfaces are tangential respectively. 